NEW YORK – The latest controversial decision by the International Tennis Federation (ITF): bringing the Davis Cup to China, without the presence of the local team.
What sense does it make to have the United States, Germany, Chile, and Slovakia play in China? The ITF claims it’s a way to expand tennis’ reach, but choosing a venue without the host team in the competition, located on average more than 6800 miles away from the four nations in Group C, and with time zones that make it difficult for fans in participating countries to follow the action live, suggests that the true goal is financial.
Players from both Europe and the Americas expressed their dissatisfaction to CLAY.
“It’s a disaster,” said Chilean player Cristián Garin.
“I’ve felt for a while that the Davis Cup has lost what it used to have. Every time we’ve played in Chile, the stadium was full and the atmosphere was incredible. Now they’re putting us in China… I’ve played countless tournaments in China and there’s never anyone there. There won’t be any spectators. The Davis Cup has always been a very emotional competition, and now playing it in China will feel like anything but that,” he said in an interview.
“It’s not ideal to play in a country where the host nation is not competing,” remarked German player Kevin Krawietz during the US Open. Krawietz and Tim Puetz played in the men’s doubles final in New York on Saturday, flew to Zhuhai on Sunday, and managed to debut with a win against the Slovaks on Tuesday.
“I think it affects the team. I can’t understand how this is positive for the Davis Cup,” added Puetz.
The location of the venue was the main reason why the big-name players who could have been nominated chose not to play.
The absence of top tennis players is one of the major problems the competition has always had to deal with: several of them are committed to the Laver Cup in Berlin, which is set to take place the following week.
Is the case for Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff for Germany; Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda, and Ben Shelton for the United States.
As a result, the German number one in China is Yannick Hanfmann (world No. 94; fifth-ranked German in the ATP rankings), and the top North American singles player is Brandon Nakashima (world No. 39; sixth-ranked US player).
Slovakia traveled with their main players. Chile also brought its full team.
Chilean team captain Nicolás Massú has often been critical of the venue choices for the final stages of the Davis Cup in its new format, as well as the neglect of regions like South America, and the constant preference for indoor hard courts, which are not favorable for his team. Massú chose to “see the glass half full and focus 100% on what happens on the court.”
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
“I believe our role as the ITF is to grow tennis around the world. And China is actually the country with the largest number of amateur tennis players on the planet,” argued David Haggerty, president of the global tennis governing body, interviewed by CLAY.
That fact is true. According to studies by the ITF itself, China is home to more than one-fifth of the 87 million tennis players worldwide. Haggerty described as “not necessarily accurate” the claim that the real reason for bringing part of the Davis Cup finals to the Asian country is financial.
“China is showing that its interest in tennis is growing very quickly. Now, if you go, you’ll see that the fans are very enthusiastic, passionate, and many of them are tennis players. We work with nations to bring fans from their countries to the series. It’s about having good marketing and being creative so that more traveling fans can attend,” he explained.
“In Málaga last year, we had a spectacular atmosphere even though Spain hadn’t qualified; many fans, both local and international, came,” added the North American, during Wimbledon, shortly after the draw was announced.
How I explain Tennis to friends:
“🇩🇪 plays the world cup groupe stage in China vs Slovakia 2 days after the US Open Final without their best 3,4 players. The doubles players played a final 50 hours ago in NY and took the 1 flight around the World. No one cares”
📸@ChipundCharge pic.twitter.com/joLZmcr5bN— Jannik Schneider (@schnejan) September 10, 2024
Craig Tiley, Australian Open’s director and former Davis Cup captain of South Africa, has always been opposed to neutral venues in the Davis Cup, as he emphasized in a recent interview with CLAY: “Playing matches at home and having the crowd completely on your side… the energy of those matches. That’s why I’ve always been, and still am, in favor of playing at the nations. I believe the Davis Cup should have more home-and-away matches. I think they just need to decide how often and how it would work commercially. (…) We should have worked harder to find a commercial solution to that issue.”
In southern China, at the Hengqin International Tennis Center, with Germans and Slovaks opening the action on neutral ground, it was already demonstrated that local enthusiasm is not as great when third- and fourth-tier players from foreign nations are on the court. Semi-empty stands. A nostalgia for what the Davis Cup once was.
